The Dividing Line
by LibiLoves
Summary: Edward Cullen is your typical British public school boy, good grades, good manners,good friends. But one night, in the most unexpected of places,the most unexpected person walks into his world, turning it head-over-heels in the process. All Human
1. Prologue

**AN**

**Disclaimer: I think we all know who owns Twilight (hint: Stephanie Meyer), all the characters that you recognise (i.e. the Cullens) belong to her, everything else belongs to me!! woohoo!!**

**Please read and review...tell me what you thought even if you didn't like it.**

**Lots of love,**

** Libi**

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Prologue

"_Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."_

_Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr._

My life has always been so strange, intensified. As if every switch was thrown to maximum, as if I was looking at it under a microscope. Sounds so loud they would burst your eardrums, lights so bright as to blind you, vibrant colours to dazzle you. Fast paced, tumultuous, a whirlwind.

I remember the first time I rode on a rollercoaster. I felt like my stomach was going to fall out of my body and there was nothing I could do to stop it, no escape. I couldn't say 'I've had enough, make it stop' I had to keep going, had to ride it out. That's what my life has always been like. I can't remember a starting point, though I know there must've been one, my life was not meant to be like that.

Sometimes I found it hard to keep up, but I knew I had to keep going, had to keep fighting. If I slowed down I could so easily fall of the road and be left behind.

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**Lovely green button, so pretty you just want to reach out and touch it, go on click! xxx**


	2. Chapter 1: The All Knowing Alcohol God

**Disclaimer: Ms Meyer _still_ owns _Twilight_, amazing ain't it! The character of Christopher Harte actually belongs to Jodi Picoult I am making no reference to _The Pact_ at all; I started of with the Hartes and decided to add in a brother, and I like the name 'Chris' for an older brother. Just thought I'd drop the disclaimer in to be on the safe side.**

**I'm so excited about this; the first real chapter of my first real story!! XD *grins manically and does star jumps***

**Please review and let me know what you think. If you have any questions/ ideas leave them in a comment and I'll try to get back to you.**

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Chapter One: The All Knowing Alcohol God

EPOV

"We'd better get going Ed" said Emmett slapping me on the back with his spade of a hand.

I looked up in annoyance, I was in the middle of a shots competition with Jack, I wasn't going to back out now; I could do with the money.

"Why?" I asked "What's the rush?"

"It's half one, we should've been home an hour ago. Esme's gonna fucking kill us."

"Shit!" I exclaimed as I more or less flew out of my chair.

"Where are you going you pussy? We've only just started!" said Jack gesturing rather wildly at the shot glasses and bottle of Vodka. Jack has never been one for handling drink well that's why we all accept his challenges, he thinks he's the father of all drinkers, but he always looses.

"It's not finished Cullen!" he yelled, slurring his words as my brother and I left the room. He staggered after us for a few paces, and then promptly keeled over.

"I'll collect my money at school tomorrow" I laughed "See ya Daniel!"

"See ya!" Daniel replied as he dragged Jack into the corner of the room.

We carefully manoeuvred our way down the stairs, past lone figures cradling their cans of beer and couples playing a bit of tonsil tennis. Finally we made it out of the front door. The cold night air hit us full in the face; we turned up our collars and strode of down the street.

We took a shortcut down one of the little alleys running behind the houses, the silver sickle of the moon hanging in the soft blackness of the night sky, and far below the streetlights created golden pools of light around themselves. Not a soul stirred, aside from us. There is always something eerie and slightly magical about the hours of the early morning, when it is still dark and the world is sleeping; you can pretend you are the only person in the entire world. Suddenly the silence of the night was rent in two by a piercing shriek.

"What the fuck was that?" I asked.

Then we heard it again, a person screaming. We broke into a run. As we rounded the corner we saw four figures. Two boys were standing around laughing as a third pinned a girl against the wall. Emmett charged at the nearest boy sending him flying. Thank God for my battering ram of a brother. I went for the third boy shoving him off the girl with my shoulder; it would've been pretty spectacular except in my slightly intoxicated state I managed to trip over my own feet, sending us both into a heap on the ground. He rolled on top and went for my throat, but I shoved him off and wacked him over the head a couple of times to little affect aside from he looked rather dazed and pretty pissed off. He struggled up and stepped towards me. CRASH. He fell to the floor in a shower of green glass. Emmett stood in his place holding the jagged neck of a wine bottle.

"Where did you get that?" I asked.

"It was just lying around" he replied gesturing vaguely at the ground.

I turned to look at the girl. She was sitting on the ground, hugging her knees to her chest, her long blonde hair covering her face. I stepped towards her.

"Are you alright?"

She looked up. Damn! She was gorgeous! Shit! What was I thinking? I sure as hell couldn't be thinking like that. This girl had just been sexually abused, she was vulnerable…and she was so fucking gorgeous…No! Edward Anthony Cullen, control yourself! She was sobbing softly, her body shaking. I crouched down next to her, putting my arm around her, she collapsed against me, burying her face in my jacket. After a while she quieted and sat up.

"I'm sorry" she whispered

"Why are you sorry?" I was surprised "You don't have anything to be sorry about"

"For crying all over you" she mumbled

"It's fine, you're welcome to cry over me whenever you want to"

She laughed half-heartedly.

"What's your name?" I inquired.

"Aphy, Aphy Harte. What's yours?"

"I'm Edward Cullen and this is my brother Emmett."

"Nice to meet you" she laughed "If it was any other situation I'd offer to buy you a drink."

She had a sense of humour then. I smiled.

"We should get you home" Emmett said "Do you live round here?"

"A couple of streets away…but I can't go home!"

"Why not?" Emmett gave me a dirty look. God, what was I supposed to say? Oh! That's fine; we'll just leave you here.

"My mum'll realise something's up, she'll get it out of me"

"Just tell her, then you…"

"You don't understand!" she cut me off; she was getting worked up, her eyes burning. "If I tell her my brother'll find out, and he'll go after those guys and he'll…he'll kill them. He'll fucking kill them and he'll go to prison and it'll all be my fault."

She started to cry again.

"Hey, it's alright" I soothed. "You can come round to our house for now."

I took her hand and helped her to stand up and then scooped her up into my arms.

Emmett opened the wrought iron gate and we walked up the path to the front door. All the lights were on, a glowing beacon in the darkness of the cul-de-sac. However the darkness was slowly creeping away, pushed by the rising sun; we were a lot later than we'd promised, I could imagine Esme going out of her mind with worry. As they say 'speak of the devil and he shall appear', but in this case it was Esme rushing out of the front door. Her face was like a battlefield, anger, and worry, and relief struggling for victory. The worry triumphed.

"Edward! Emmet! What happened?"

"We're fine mum" Emmet responded reassuringly.

"Wha…"

"In a minute mum" he said as he gently, but forcefully cleared a path towards the living room. I followed behind and laid Aphy down on the sofa; she had fallen asleep in my arms a while ago and now she shifted slightly into a more comfortable position. We retreated from the room.

Our sister Alice was waiting outside; I guessed she had been watching the goings on from the top of the stairs. Her eyes locked with mine and I could tell she had a pretty good, if not complete idea of what had happened. Alice is very perceptive; she always knows what's going on, so it's very hard to keep secrets in our house. Some people would call her down right nosy, and Esme is forever telling her that curiosity killed the cat, but she just likes to know things. I suppose in some ways it's a sort of safeguard, if you know everything people can't surprise you. Anyway, the three of us walked into the kitchen where our parents were seated at the table.

"Well?" queried Carlisle.

I exchanged a glance with my brother he nodded at me; as usual I would be doing the talking. I gave a sigh and began.

The only interruptions throughout my telling of events had been Emmett adding in extra information and his point of view; now a blanket of silence hung over the room as everything I had said sunk in.

Alice was the first to speak. "Did they rape her?" Blunt and to the point as usual, most people would've dithered around the question, that is most normal people, but I doubt anyone would call Alice normal. I had been avoiding this question, pushing it aside whenever it popped up in my head, because I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the answer.

"I don't think so. I'm not sure" Not really an answer, but I really didn't know.

She scraped her chair back from the table and left the room. The austere blanket reinstated itself on the room.

APOV

There was a voice in my head. Not good, not good at all. A couple of drinks and I'm going crazy. Ok, maybe not a _couple_ of drinks, but it really wasn't _that_ much. I'm normally fine when it comes to alcohol, its Shanice who can't deal with it. Maybe this is some kind of reckoning, the god of alcohol saying 'right missy, you've had your fun now its time for consequences'.

Why wouldn't it go away? I could hear it calling me, though I couldn't work out what it was saying. That wasn't surprising though, gods probably don't speak English. Do they even use words?

"Aphy" it said.

Ok, so it _was_ using words now. And it knew my name, what was that all-knowing shit, umnicent or something like that.

"Aphy, can you hear me?"

Omniscient! That was it. There were others too, something about potions. What was it?

"Aphy"

Annoying voice of all-knowing alcohol god, let a girl think.

"Aphy"

"Fuck off" I mumbled.

"Charming"

A sarcastic god, that can't be right. I struggled to open my eyes, it was like there was a lead weight pinning them shut. The blurry shapes came into focus. There was a face peering down at me, it was rather strange and pointy, like a pixie. Great, now I was seeing a floating pixie head. The pixie's mouth broke into a smile.

"Oh good, you're awake" it said.

I scowled and it laughed. What was so funny about being smited by the god of alcohol and him sending a floating pixie head to piss you off? Nothing, that's what.

"I'm Alice" the floating head said.

What kind of a pixie name is Alice? I didn't realise I'd said this aloud until she laughed.

"What's so funny you evil smiting pixie?" I asked glaring at her.

"I'm not a…um… 'evil smiting pixie'" she replied.

"You're not?"

"Nope, I'm a very lovely human being"

"And why should I believe you?"

"Look around Aphy, does this look like fairyland to you?"

I stared at her for a while and then allowed my eyes to take in her surroundings; our surroundings.

The first thing I noticed was a door, a perfectly ordinary white-painted door. Then I observed the walls spreading out on either side, painted a pale shade of yellow, making the room feel sunny and bright. For now I saw we were indeed in a room, a living room I decided from the armchairs and the TV in the corner. As my eyes took their fill my other senses came into action. I was lying on something soft, but solid; a quick glance confirmed it as a sofa. I could also smell something strange, rusty almost; it took me a moment to place it, blood. I lurched forwards and threw up over the soft white carpet.

They were rich; I could tell that much from the little I had seen of their house, two rooms including the kitchen in which I now sat. Esme had cleaned up my sick saying not to mention it and that I'd been through a lot, as I apologised profusely. Alice, the not-evil-smiting-pixie had found a plaster for the cut on my arm which had caused the little occurrence. She had then led me into the kitchen where she introduced me to her dad, Carlisle and her two brothers, Emmett and Edward; my 'rescuers' it seemed. They then told me what had happened.

It was starting to come back to me now. I remember going to the party with Shanice and Mara. I know we drank a hell of a lot and I remember smoking something considerably dodgy. I also remember seeing _him_. That's when it fades into the huge blankness which lasts until the alley. I know for a fact I hadn't been there for long until Edward and Emmett turned up. I also know that nothing _serious_ happened. That's the way Carlisle put it. I looked at him blankly for a period before Alice came to the rescue with "Did they rape you?" No. No, they didn't, but they might as well have.

EPOV

Part of me, probably the rational part, was asking why oh why did I volunteer to walk Aphy home? The now predominant, irrational part was coming up with some pretty good arguments. Number one, someone needed to walk her home, we couldn't just throw her out the front door. The reasonable part argued Emmett or Alice or someone else could've. Its irrational counter-part told it to fuck off and to concentrate on reason number two; why would anyone not offer to walk someone this goddamn beautiful home? Mr Rational huffed and retreated to the far corner of my mind where he started to build up barricades for his own protection so that when my head was clearer he could regain his territory.

"Almost there" she said in a sing-song voice.

She was astonishingly cheerful for someone who had almost been raped, but I got the idea that she was a strong person, probably able to bounce back from anything. She was walking a few paces in front of me, her blonde waves bouncing off her shoulders. She turned around and flashed me a mind-blowing, heart-wrenching smile.

We turned round one more corner and she came to stop at the gate of a blue painted house.

"Here we are" she pronounced.

I looked up at the house. It stood out from the rows of red brick and white paint, a splash of colour in a black and white photograph. The grass running along the path was long and unkempt, but it looked right somehow. She was watching me.

"I know it's nothing special" she began.

"I like it" I stated "It's unique"

"If that's polite speak for weird…"

"No, seriously!"

"Ok, Ok!" she held up her hands in defence.

"Look, I wanted to thank you for…"

I interrupted her "You've said thank you countless times Aphy, there's really no need"

She smiled and turned towards the house again. A flash of movement by an upstairs window caught both our attentions.

"Play with me, Ok?"

"What?" I started, but then she leaned in and kissed me.

That's right; she kissed me full on, on the mouth. It was amazing; I think every single drop of blood in my body rushed to my head, mixing with hormones and adrenaline to form a fiery river of lust. I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her body towards me as I kissed her back. She broke away abruptly and looked at me with her head on one side. Then she turned smiling and ran into the house. She paused in the doorway and waved, and then she was gone.

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**Who remembers the lovely green button from last time? If you do...brownie point to you...and go clicky!!**

**Reviews make me happy, and happy Libi means a Libi who does her school work more quickly, and so can write more story and update sooner. See it all works out :D**

**Love you,**

**Libi xxx**

**P.S. Next chapter up soon**


	3. Chapter 2: Potatoes and Russian Swearing

**Disclaimer: Ms Meyer _still_ owns _Twilight_, amazing ain't it! **

**Not many reviews, although quite a few visitors. It's only polite to review, you know, and I am not being a hypocrite because I have started to review everything I read :)**

**The Russian swear words are pretty acurate, well as acurate as you can get from a website. **

**So, Chapter Two here goes! Enjoy....AND read and review. **

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Chapter Two: Potatoes and Russian Swearing

APOV

It'd been three weeks since the 'incident'. That's what I called it in my head; mainly because the actual word scared the shit out of me, who would've thought that four simple letters could freak someone out that much? I think it's the 'r'; 'r's can actually be quite scary, they sound like argh and roar. Ok, sidetracking. The other reason for the evasion is probably due to the fact my mum announced at breakfast that she's taken up mind reading classes. Now in any normal household that wouldn't be a cause for worry, because, seriously, people don't read minds. However, this is our household and we are no way near normal, and if my mum says she can read minds she's probably pretty close to the truth. So I was doubly scared shitless.

Chris on the other hand _laughed_ himself shitless; he thought it was the funniest thing since Pete Davies got mega drunk and convinced himself he was Tinkerbell. He was probably right, I was just over reacting, but it's seriously creepy when she looks at me like that, it's like x-ray vision.

"Potatoes!"

I looked up. My mum was sitting there grinning away like an idiot. I exchanged a look with Chris, something along the lines of 'do we need to get her to a shrink?'

"What the fuck, mum?" Chris said

"I'm getting a strong image of potatoes. Who was thinking about potatoes?"

"Not me"

"No fucking potatoes here, mum"

"Govno!"

She was swearing in Russian, that's normally a bad sign, she only brings out the Russian when she's really pissed off.

"Blyadischa!" she muttered as she wandered out of the room massaging her temples.

Mum grew up in Izhevsk in Russia; her mother was Elena Kuzenkova all we know about her is what mum told us, since she died long before we were born. According to mum she had a sharp mind and an even sharper tongue, which she has succeeded in passing down to the younger female generations i.e. mum and I. Chris and I always referred to her as Granny Moscow, geographically complete bullshit I know, but at the age of five Izhevsk was a bit of a mouthful, I still struggle to pronounce it, plus what do you think when someone says Moscow? Russia. Izhevsk? What the fuck? Exactly! So Granny Moscow married Grandad Her Majesty's British Army and popped out our crazy mother a year later. The history of my family.

People are always surprised when my mother says she's Russian, because Jaelle's not a very Russian name. Jaelle is her 'English' name, though technically it's Hebrew, but she does have a Russian name, Katja, but she decided to change it when she came over to England when she was eighteen. She's never been back, not even for Granny Moscow's funeral, and she hardly ever speaks Russian at home.

"Motherfucking gypsies" Mum said as she sank down onto the sofa next to me.

"What's up?"

"I can't get my money back for the mind reading classes"

"You actually paid money for them?" I looked at her incredulously

"Yep, thirty quid for a load of gypsy bollocks"

"You don't have the gift then?"

"No" she laughed "I can't believe I even let myself get taken in…but he was so gorgeous"

"Huh?" I said staring at her

"This unbelievably dazzling gypsy boy came up to me and asked me if I wanted to take mind reading classes, who would refuse?"

She caught my eye and we started to laugh.

"God, mum! You'd believe anything if it came out of the mouth of a good looking boy"

Talking of good looking boys I knew what I had to do. I had to talk to him, I had to explain, it wasn't right to keep things from him.

EPOV

It'd been three weeks and I hadn't heard anything from Aphy. I wasn't really expecting to, I mean we barely knew each other, but still part of me felt we couldn't just walk away from each other like this.

"Wake up sleepy head" said a voice next to me.

Alice was waving her hand in front of my face. I batted it away.

"What?" I complained

"So-rry, I was looking for my brother, not Mr Grump features"

"Ok, fine. I'm sorry, I was just thinking"

"About?"

"Nothing"

"Why would you be thinking about nothing?"

"Alice, Edward, stop arguing" Esme said gently "It's Sunday, our day as a family.

We apologised.

"It's ok, just eat your breakfast"

We're not a very religious family; Esme likes to go to Church from time to time, and Carlisle usually accompanies her, but she doesn't make us go as a family, she says it's our decision. However, both our parents are very big on Sunday being a special, family day. We normally have a long lie-in, a big breakfast, and then go somewhere as a family.

The doorbell rang.

"I'll get it" sang Alice, skipping out into the hallway; she's always cheerful on Sundays.

Voices came from the hallway. My sister reappeared in the doorway with someone behind her.

"It's Aphy!" she said excitedly a smile spreading across her face.

Everyone turned to stare as she moved out of the way and Aphy stepped into the room. She was wearing a grey hoody and a leather jacket over a _very_ short dress. She smiled timidly.

"Aphy! It's lovely to see you" said Esme standing up "Would you like some breakfast"

"Thanks, but I've already eaten" she turned to me "I need to talk to you"

"Uh, sure" I stood up and led the way out of the room "Do you want to go upstairs?"

"No, can we go outside?"

"Sure"

She's been pacing back and forth for a couple of minutes and it was actually starting to make me dizzy.

"Aphy"

"Oh fuck I'm sorry" she blurted out "Can we walk?"

She led the way down the hill until we came to the park at the bottom. We squeezed through the gap in the railings into the area of trees, there was a fallen tree trunk which she sat down on. I joined her.

"I come here a lot" she told me "it helps me think. I wanted to talk about that night, in the alley"

"I kind of guessed, what did you…"

"It's about those guys" she blurted out, cutting me off. I didn't care; I waited for her to continue with baited breath.

"It's about the guys who tried to rape me" she turned her head away, letting her hair form a heavy curtain between us.

"I need to tell you about this, because I don't think it would be right for you not to know" she paused "I know them."

"What do you mean you know them?"

"I know their names, I know where they live, I know who they like and who they don't like, shit, I even know their favourite colours"

We sat there for a while in silence, I knew I should say something, but I didn't know what.

"Say something will you!" she said, leaping up to stand in front of me.

I looked at her.

"Who are they?" She turned away.

"Kyle Rogers, Dave Cooper, and Aaron Smith. Kyle's my ex-boyfriend, I broke up with him a couple of months ago when I found him in bed with Amy Johnson. He's been trying to get me to get back together with him. I suppose, what happened was his way of showing me who's boss"

She began to shake and I realised she was crying. I jumped up and turned her around to face me. The tears were streaming down her face, she brushed them away impatiently.

"Why is this happening?" she lamented "I don't cry!"

"Everyone cries"

I pulled her back on to the tree and put my arm around her. She leant against me, burying her face in my shoulder. It reminded me of the first time we met, in the alley.

"Edward?" she asked

"Yeah"

"I like you"

"I like you too" I said, slightly confused.

She sat up and looked at me funnily.

"I really like you" she paused "this kind of like" and she kissed me for the second time.

She cupped my face with one hand while the other snaked round my waist pushing on my back, moving my body closer to hers. Her hair fell like curtain, creating our own little golden world. I entwined my fingers in her hair as my tongue slipped into her mouth. It can't have lasted for longer than a couple of minutes, but it seemed to go on for ever.

When we broke apart she smiled.

"I would've said 'I love you' so as to be clearer, but that just seemed a bit trashy seeing as we barely know each other"

I laughed "There's nothing trashy about love"

"Sure there is, if it's insincere"

"Anyway, I really like you in that way too"

"I know you do"

"When did you realise you liked me?"

"After I got home that day, after we kissed. What about you?"

"Well, I've always really liked myself; you see I'm such an amazing person."

She punched me on the arm.

"Ow! That hurt!"

"Good. Here I am, trying to have a serious conversation with you, and you come out with that!"

"Ok, I'm sorry"

"Then answer the question"

"From the moment I set eyes on you"

"Hey! Serious, remember"

"I am being serious!"

"Then why does it sound like something out of a trashy film" she inquired, raising one eyebrow.

"I am sincerely hurt by that"

"Were you really being serious?"

"Yes"

"Cross your heart and hope to die?" I smiled as she started this childhood ritual, holding out her pinky finger.

"Stick a needle in my eye" I replied as I linked my finger with her's.

"A tad inappropriate don't you think?"

"What? Sticking a needle…"

"No, when you first set eyes on me, think of the circumstances darling"

I thought back to that night.

"Oh, yeah, good point. Hey, I can't help when love strikes"

"Fuck! You used the L word"

"You used the F word"

"Up yours! she glared at me

"Likewise"

We looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Do you know what my mum would say if she was here now?" she asked

I thought about it "Get your hands off my daughter?"

"No, she'd probably encourage you…"

"What!"

She shrugged "My mum's weird. Anyway she'd say we're like an old married couple"

"Yep, your mum is weird"

"Oy!" she punched me again.

"Will you stop physically abusing me, your punches hurt!"

"So they should. Anyway, I wasn't even doing it hard you wimp"

"Don't call me a wimp"

"I just did, so meh" she said, flipping me the bird.

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**This is quite a short chapter actually, the next one will be longer.**

**About reviewing, I know, from plenty of personal experience, that after reading a story you have plenty of comments and ideas and random thoughts floating around in your head, so take a minute and write them down. After all I have spent more than a minute writing this for you guys.**

**So....go fish the lovely green button :D**

**Love Libi xxx**

**P.S. Reviewers will get a sneak preview of the next chapter :)**


	4. Chapter 3: Let's Just Talk

**AN: **

**Wow it's been absolutely ages since I updated...sorry about that. I've had tons of work, my internet hasn't been that great.**

**Okay enough excuses, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, especially the bit with Aphy and Chris. AND we have the first of the citrus variety hehe.**

**I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**Please review and tell me how you found it.**

**Disclaimer: Ms Meyer owns Twilight and the Cullens and to quote KiyaRaven "I just like schmexin' them up"  
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Chapter Three: Let's Just Talk

APOV

"Let's go to your place. I want to meet your family"

I stared at him. Not quite what I'd been expecting.

"I don't think that's a good idea" I replied.

"Why? Are you worried they'll weird me out and I'll run away screaming?"

I thought about this. My family and Edward in a room together, there were so many ways it could go.

"That's highly probable, but it's not the reason"

"Then what is?"

Oh God. Why is my life always so goddamn complex? Why can't it be straight forward for once? I mean it's called a life _line_ but mine is like some kind of jumbled mess of randomness.

"It doesn't matter" I said, answering both things at once, although in each case it was a downright lie. "C'mon then"

I looked up at the house. It was exactly the same. It always is; throughout my hectic life our house has been one of the continuities. Sure the grass might grow a bit and mum would make some attempt to cut it, or the curtains might change, but they were just little, inconsequential things; nothing within the bigger picture. Things that happened in the world around it, even things that happened inside it, never really affected it. It didn't care about my life; it'd been there before me and would be there after I've gone.

I turned to look at Edward. "Are you sure about this?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" He said giving me a funny look. "What's going on Aphy? There's something you're not telling me"

There are lots of things I'm not telling you, I thought, where would you like me to start?

I took a deep breath. "It's about the other week, when you walked me home…"

"Yes?"

"And…I kissed you"

"Ah. I was wondering when you'd mention that"

"I'm sorry about that. It was before I realised I had feelings for you, so I was kind of using you"

"I'm not really following this. How exactly were you using me?"

"Oh God Edward, I'm sorry" I felt so bad, I knew I'd hurt his feelings. "My brother saw us out here, and I knew that as soon as I walked in he'd ask me about you, so I needed an excuse. So I told him you were my boyfriend, which is why I kissed you"

"I don't see a problem" he responded "I mean I am your boyfriend, aren't I?"

"No. I mean yes you are, but that's not the problem"

"Then what is?"

"When you didn't reappear Chris began to ask questions, so I told him you'd slept with me and never spoken to me again"

"Oh. Why on earth did you tell him that?" He actually looked pretty pissed off.

"What was I supposed to say?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe you'd broken up with me?"

Did he just use sarcasm with me? _Nobody_ gets sarky with me.

"So-rry! I'm afraid I'm not Mr Braniac Planning Committee like some people!"

Now I felt bad. He actually looked really sorry and upset.

"I'm sorry I got sarcastic with you Aphy, but don't lets argue"

"It's Ok. I'm sorry I called you a braniac"

"Hey! Who said braniac is a bad thing? I will have you know I _am_ a braniac, however a very disorganised one who is definitely not on the planning committee"

"C'mon" I said "how's my brother going to kill you if we're standing out here?"

Edward closed the front door behind him. We stood in the hallway, out of the corner of my eye I could see him looking around, taking in everything, seeing how the other half lived. I couldn't hear anything; maybe no one was home. As if in answer to me thoughts, Chris appeared in the living room doorway. He opened his mouth to greet me, but then he noticed Edward.

So the 'hello' turned into "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Chris" I said warningly

"D'you want me to beat the crap out of him, Aph?"

"Chris. Kitchen. Now" I said pushing him out of the hallway.

"What's going on Aphy? He treats you like a one night stand and now you're all over him again"

God almighty! Chris was really starting to piss me off. I knew it wasn't his fault, he didn't know I made that up, but still. Argh!

"Number one, I am not all over him, I've barely touched him today" apart from one fuck-awesome kiss "and number two, he did not treat me like a one night stand"

"Huh?"

Oh. My. God.

"He did not…"

"No, no, I heard you, but I don't understand what you mean"

"I lied to you"

"Huh?"

"Seriously Chris!"

"Oh, sorry. Um, why?"

Good question. Come on Aphy, blow him away with your mindboggling reason. Mindboggling! Ha, that's such a cool word! Really, not helping. Okaay.

"I lied to you, because I didn't want to admit how serious this relationship is"

Uh huh, kick-ass!

"Serious?"

What was with all the questions? Loose the question marks, people!

"Yes. This is my most serious relationship I've ever had and I really don't want you fucking it up for me"

"How long have you known him?"

"Three weeks" That actually sounded quite bad now I thought about it.

"Three weeks and you call it serious?"

I gave him one of my drop-dead Aphy glares.

"Ok, next question. How many times have you fucked him?"

Sometimes, he _really_ makes my blood boil.

"I haven't 'fucked' him, as you so eloquently put it"

Chris rolled his eyes "All right, how many times have you 'made love' to him?"

"I haven't"

"Huh?"

"God Chris, there are other words in the English language! And do I really have to spell it out? Edward and I have not had sexual intercourse of any kind!"

"Are you sure?"

Oh my fucking God. Did he actually ask me that?!

"Am I sure? Do you honestly think I would forget that I'd had sex with someone?"

He thought about it. He actually had to think about it!

"There was that time with…" he began.

"Christopher Joseph Harte, do _not_ bring that up! Edward is my boyfriend and I love him and you are not to lay a _finger_ on him. Now we are going upstairs so fuck off" I said as I made way out into the hall to join Edward.

"Are you gonna fuck him now?" Chris asked.

"Fuck off Chris!" I yelled "Go sell crack to twelve year olds or something!"

I turned to Edward "C'mon" and I led the way upstairs.

EPOV

"After you" she said gesturing to the white-painted wooden door.

I stepped forward, turned the brass handle, pushed the door open, and walked into her room. She followed behind me and closed the door with a gentle click. I looked around. There was a wardrobe, a desk, cupboards, shelves, a dressing table, and a double bed. The first thing I thought was: lucky bitch has a double bed, the second thing was: that might be useful. Then Mr Rational Conscience said: 'don't get ahead of yourself mate' in a strange Australian accent.

It was all pretty normal, I must admit I had been expecting something weird and wonderful, but instead I got conventional: beige carpet, white wood, and blue. There was a lot of blue: the duvet was blue, the curtains were blue, and the walls were blue, even the rug on the floor…The walls. I'd got my weird, but I wasn't so sure about the wonderful. I stared at the wall opposite the door. The wall itself wasn't that riveting, walls never are, it was what was on the wall. Silhouette figures; men and women, I swear one of them was holding a knife. Empty people, shadows. They scared the shit out of me.

"What do you think?"

I'd almost forgotten about Aphy, I'd been so engrossed in the shadow people.

"Did you do that?" I asked, turning to look at her.

"Yep. Do you like?"

"Yes. No…I dunno. They're good, hell they're amazing, but they scare me"

She snorted "They scare you?"

"They don't have faces"

"That's because they're silhouettes Mr Big IQ, shadows of people"

"Fine. What's with the knife? I don't appreciate some random guy standing next to my girlfriend's bed with a knife"

She laughed again.

"I seriously don't get what's so funny" I complained

"It's not some random guy, it's Chris"

"I'm even more disturbed now"

"It's symbolism, darling, very big in the art world"

"What does your brother holding a knife symbolise?"

"That he's an annoying little prick"

"Hm" I frowned "What about that girl?" I said poking one of the shadows "she looks evil"

"Fucking hell" she spluttered "you're hilarious"

"Gee. Thanks" I said sarcastically

"Sorry!" she giggled "That one's me"

"Oh"

She regained her composure and ran her hand along my jaw line, turning my face towards hers.

"So" she said, stepping closer, pressing her body close to mine "do I scare you, Mr Cullen?"

"Hell yeah" I groaned as she nibbled my ear.

Her hands left my face and travelled slowly down my back, ending up wrapped around my waist. I crushed my lips to hers and she let out a sigh, opening her mouth and letting my tongue slide inside. I pulled her closer and she moaned as she felt my erection. She walked us over to the bed and pulled me down next to her. I sat up with my back against the headrest and she climbed on top, straddling my hips. She began to rock back and forth on my increasingly large erection. She moaned again.

"Oh fuck" I swore, her little noises of pleasure turned me on so much.

"So fuck is in your vocabulary Mr Goody Two Shoes Braniac" she panted.

I grabbed her hips and rolled us over so that I was on top. She reached up and kissed me, her lips burning mine.

I peeled off her jacket and grey hoodie, throwing them onto the floor beside the bed. Her blue dress was loose fitting, the material flowing off the peak of her breasts in irregular folds. I cupped one of her breasts in my hand, feeling the nipple harden through the material. I looked up and met her eyes, smouldering with lust. I lowered my head and grabbed her nipple roughly with my teeth. She gasped. I massaged her breasts with one hand, meanwhile moving the other one down to her thigh, sliding the blue material up it.

"Edward, stop"

I looked up, my hand frozen just below her hip.

"What's the matter?" I asked. What was I doing wrong? Didn't she like this? She was probably used to people with more experience than me, but I am pretty good at this kind of thing. I thought she'd been enjoying this.

"God, Edward. It's not you, what you're doing is amazing, I'm so fucking turned on"

Just the idea of her being turned on sent new waves of longing down to my throbbing erection. I rolled off, and lay on my side watching her.

"It's just…I can't do this" she closed her eyes

"What do you mean?" I was starting to get worried, was she breaking up with me?

"I don't want us to have sex right now"

APOV

He lay there watching me, shocked, confused…and disappointed. I felt awful. I'd led him on, turned him on, and let him down. I had to do it; it was my duty to myself.

I started again "I don't want us to have sex right now, because I don't want us to ruin everything"

No change in his facial expression, it was quite sexy really. That set my girl parts all a tingle again. Focus, Aphy, focus.

"So many of my relationships have just been about the sex and they've always fallen apart in a matter of weeks, sometimes days" I paused "I don't want that to happen to us. I don't have a problem with sex; I've had plenty of sex, a lot more than is good for me. That's what I am, a slut, an easy ride"

I looked away, letting my hair form a barrier between us so he couldn't see my damp eyes.

"Aphy"

"Let me finish" I cut across, feeling the tears running down my cheeks "I'm a bad influence, I mess people up; you'll only get into trouble if you stay with me. I'm giving you a chance to back out"

"You're crazy"

Did I hear right? He's calling me crazy!

"I'm crazy?" I turned to stare at him

"Definitely, if you think that you can get rid of me that easily. You're not a slut; you are an amazing, beautiful girl who I love. I'm not going anywhere; I'm staying right here, with you"

He leant over and kissed me, wiping the tears from my eyes.

"Let's just talk" he murmured, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close.

EPOV

"What do you want to talk about, then?" she asked

"I don't know" I replied

"Oh come on, it was your idea so get the conversation flowing darling"

"Fine, let's talk about you"

"Me? Why me?"

"You told me to think of something to talk about, so I did. Now tell me about yourself"

She glared at me "What do you want to know?"

"Everything"

She rolled her eyes "You have to start somewhere. Ask me a question"

I thought about it. There were so many things I wanted to ask, so much I didn't know. Where to start?

"What's your name?" she looked at me like I'd gone mad.

"What's Aphy short for? It's short for something, I'm guessing"

She sighed and propped herself up on one elbow. "Promise you won't laugh"

"Why would I laugh?"

"Just promise" she said poking me.

"Ok, ok, I promise"

"Aphrodite"

"Huh?"

"God Almighty! What is it with you guys and that word? My full name is Aphrodite May Harte, Aphy is short for Aphrodite!"

I started to laugh, I couldn't help it.

"Oy! You promised!" she thumped me

"Sorry, sorry, sorry" was all I managed to get out as I defended myself from her blows "God woman, you have anger issues!"

She gave me the finger.

"Why are you called Aphrodite?" I inquired gingerly, preparing to defend myself again if need be.

"My mum was high when she went to get my birth certificate"

"Ah"

"It could've been a lot worse"

"Oh. How?"

"My mum and her crazy friends had a baby naming party and they all got rather pissed. So they went down the road of famous women in history"

"What did they come up with, besides Aphrodite?"

"Elizabeth, Helen of Troy, Marie Antoinette, Cleopatra, Marilyn Monroe, Boudicca…you get the idea"

"Boudicca?"

"Yep"

"Good God!"

She laughed "So Aphrodite isn't that bad then"

"I suppose not. Imagine saddling a child with 'Boudicca'. What if they turned out a total wimp?"

"Like you, you mean?"

"Fuck off"

"See I'm being a bad influence already, you're swearing more"

I shrugged.

"It's quite sexy y'know" she said vaguely looking at me, her head tilted "you swearing. Say 'fuck' again"

I looked at her, slightly confused "Fuck?"

She kissed me.

"Mmm" I moaned "Fuck, fuck, fuckety fuck"

"Say it babe" she ran her hands over my chest, feeling the muscles.

"Fuuuck" I drew out the syllable.

She grabbed my cock through my jeans "Oh fuck!" I yelled

"Shh!" she giggled, breaking away.

I waited until my breathing and heart rate had settled before speaking again.

"So I'm going out with the goddess of love then" I said raising an eyebrow.

"I suppose you are"

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**So there you go. Yes I know, Aphrodite, slightly cliche, but there are people called that and I think it's a beautiful name, and also the wackiness of it suits Aphy I think. What do you guys think. Let the thoughts fly...REVIEW, it kicks my writing brain into action.**

**Love, Libi xxx  
**


	5. Chapter 4: Blessed Are The Cheese Makers

**AN: Well...um..it's Chapter Four! **

**This is quite a short chapter...the little EPOV at the end did it for me, I felt like I had to break off then, I could really start talking about something else. **

**Y'know I find it quite sad that people never review..it doesn't take very long and it will cheer me up a hell of a lot.**

**Disclaimer: SM owns _Twilight_ and any characters you recognise. The song lyrics are Fire by Kasabian and so belong to Kasabian.**

**Aphy is mine, Chris is mine, Jessica Lewis is mine, Maria is mine, Jaelle is mine; mine, mine, all mine!!! ha ha ha**

**Enjoy X  
**

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Chapter Four: Blessed Are The Cheese Makers

APOV

We talked for hours, making up for all the time we'd missed, learning every inconsequential detail; favourite colour, favourite sweets, favourite birthday present from when we were small. At every new discovery we grew closer.

I was curious about his family, his parents were nothing like I was used to; they were so…_parent-like_. Esme was a housewife, she'd been a nurse when she was younger, but when Alice was born, she decided to stay at home to look after her three small children. I don't have much faith in housewives, as I told Edward; being a feminist I feel women shouldn't feel the need to give up their careers to be a mother. He assured me that Esme was happier than she'd been as a nurse, because she had the chance to pursue her other interests, namely helping the poor and teaching. I didn't see why anyone would actually _choose_ to teach bratty little five year olds, but each to her own. Carlisle, it turned out, was a doctor; he worked in the local A&E, of course Dr Super Life Saver Cullen to the rescue. I could imagine Carlisle racing about yelling "he's tachycardic" and "shock her" like they do on _Casualty_.

I told him about my family as well, the little of it that there is. There was no family on mum's side as far as we knew; which wasn't very far at all seeing as mum hadn't spoken to anyone in Russia for nearly twenty years. As for our dad, he upped and left when I was six, bastard, and we hadn't heard from him or any of his family since. Apart from Maria, that is. Maria was my Italian cousin; getting the Italian bit from her mum and the cousin bit from her dad, my uncle. I used the term 'uncle' quite lavishly here, seeing as we hadn't heard from him in ten years. Maria was twenty years old and had her own apartment in Venice, we emailed each other once a month, and we'd been to visit her a few times.

Neither of us were really keeping track of the time, so it wasn't until my stomach rumbled that we realised it must be about lunch time. We both laughed as my impatient stomach cut Edward off mid-sentence.

He glanced at his watch "It's going on for two" he said in disbelief "we've been up here for three hours"

God, fuck knew what Chris would be thinking. He seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me.

"I think your brother really will kill me now" he did actually look quite worried, man he's so hot when he's worried.

"Don't worry; he'll just think we've been having a three hour fuck-a-thon"

"How does that stop me worrying exactly?"

"Because I can bring up Jessica Lewis"

"Jessica Lewis?"

"Yep, she and Chris were at it for five hours"

"Five hours!" shock was written all over his face, as solid and unmoving as the Ten Commandments on the bloody stone tablets.

Chris was never going to live down the whole Jessica Lewis fiasco, even though it was over two years ago. People rarely spoke about it to his face, but that didn't stop them when he wasn't around to beat the crap out of them.

"No one actually knows if they were having sex for all that time" I continued "but that's the rumour. The real scandal of it was that it was all this big bet the boys had going. Jessica was one of the exchange students from America and they were betting who would be the first to get in her pants. Chris denies they were at it for that long, and Jessica isn't here to say either way."

EPOV

Her eyes were alive from the story telling, lit up like fairy lights. What was it with girls and gossip? This was exactly how Alice got after imparting a precious gem of scandal. I could really imagine Chris getting pissed off about that. He seemed like someone with a short fuse, quite like Aphy really.

I sighed. "Come on then. Let's go face the devil hand in hand"

"Good" she agreed "I need some food"

She grabbed my hand and led the way out of the door and down the stairs.

The house seemed pretty quiet. Maybe Chris had gone out.

"Chris?" Aphy called, wandering into the living room. There was no reply. "Mum? Anyone?" silence.

"Looks like we're home alone" she said beckoning me into the kitchen.

"Have a seat" she pointed to one of the chairs at the table.

"What are we eating?" I asked

She gave a nonchalant half shrug as she began to search through the kitchen cupboards. "Whatever I can find. Right, we have Coco Pops" she brandished the packet.

"Breakfast" I replied

"True, true; well Mr Cullen you seem to know your grub, what will be deemed acceptable for your table? Wagon Wheels? Pringles? A can of tuna?"

As she said each item she removed them from the cupboard and lined them up along the counter.

"Do you have bread?"

"Probably." She rooted through the end cupboard "Ah hah!" she waved half a loaf of sliced bread at me.

"Cheese?"

She handed me the bread and wondered over to the fridge. She retrieved a small, square item.

"The magic of our fridge, this went in an ordinary lump of mature cheddar and came out as Stilton" she held it up to her nose "Bloody hell! Take a whiff of that!"

The strong aroma of mould drifted up my nostrils. "Smells expensive"

She laughed and patted the fridge "Good boy Brian"

"Brian?"

"Blame Monty Python"

"Blessed are the cheese makers?"

"Yep. So, bread plus cheese equals…cheese on toast?"

I nodded.

"Okey dokey lets get toasting"

Three quarters of an hour later we were walking up the path to my front door. I fumbled in the back pocket of my jeans, searching for the key. Success; I slid the key into the lock and turned it to the right, shoving the door at the same time with my shoulder. I held the door open for Aphy, ushering her in ahead of me.

"Where is everyone?" she asked, listening to the silent house.

"They've probably gone out somewhere; we normally go on a family outing on Sunday"

"Oh dear" she replied "I've stolen you away from them." She giggled.

"I don't think they'll mind too much, they all love you"

"They do? I've only met them twice, and not for very long on both accounts"

"Alice and Esme tend to love everyone, Emmett thinks you're hilarious, and Carlisle just…"

"Goes along for the ride?" she offered.

"I suppose. Come on."

I led the way through to the kitchen. On the table was a folded piece of paper. I picked it up and gave it a quick read.

"Gone to Blenheim palace, back about three"

Aphy glanced at her phone. "It's quarter to three now, they should be back soon. Why don't we go wait in your room?"

I led the way up the stairs. On the landing Aphy grabbed my hand, making me pause.

"Let me guess which room is yours" she said.

"Go ahead"

"That one?" she pointed down the corridor.

"No, that would be Alice's"

"What about that one?" she pointed to the door in front of us.

"Bathroom" I laughed.

"Ok, I'm not good at this guessing, so let kitty out and tell me which one it is"

I took her hand and guided her down the corridor.

APOV

His bedroom was at the front of the house, so it had those lovely bay windows that all the houses around there had. There was a little window seat with dark green cushions that matched the curtains. The walls were turquoise, and they brought back childhood memories of visits to the Cornish seaside, staying in little white washed cottages, waking up each morning to the smell of salt and seaweed. Those were memories tucked away in the dark recesses of my mind, back when we were a proper family and did the things that families do. We went back to Cornwall the year after my dad left; it was the last time. Jaelle always said it was because it was too expensive, but the truth was there was too much pain there. The past can hurt just as much as the present.

"Are you ok, Aphy?" Edward's soft voice brought me back to the here and the now. He was looking at me rather worriedly, probably due to my rather vacant expression.

I shook my head slightly, in an attempt to clear my head and get the past under lock and key. It didn't work; as Bob Marley said "in this bright future you cannot forget your past".

I looked up at Edward, my future was dazzling.

"I'm fine." I replied "Everything's wonderful"

I stretched up on tiptoe and kissed him briefly, marvelling at the softness of his lips and the way they moulded to mine so perfectly.

I broke away and turned around to continue my survey of the room. I leant against him and he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me in closer and resting his chin gently on my head.

"You share with Emmett" I stated as I took in the twin beds on either side of the room.

"Yep"

"That's slightly shitty" I said turning to look at him again.

He was frowning slightly "We get on fine, so it's not…"

"I was thinking about us, darling" I interrupted.

"Oh" he chuckled.

I unlocked his arms from around my waist and wandered over to his rather impressive hi-fi system.

"Bet this cost a bundle"

He shrugged. Typical, obviously no money issues in the Cullen household.

I glanced to the right...fuck…I had never seen so many CDs in my life, there were shelves and shelves of them. I ran my fingers down them, scanning the titles.

"You have quite a collection"

"A lot of them are Carlisle's"

That explained all the oldies and the classical.

I gave up trying to take any of them in, it was too much.

"What's in here at the moment?"

I pressed play.

_Take me into the night _

_And I'm an easy lover_

_Take me into the fight_

_And I'm an easy brother_

_And I'm on fire_

I let my body take control as I moved with the music, letting it surround me, feeling it flowing through me.

EPOV

I watched Aphy dance; I couldn't get over how beautiful she was. I hadn't felt like that for so long, not since…oh god, I promised myself I wouldn't think about that. Whenever I was with Aphy I couldn't help but think about it, in some ways being with her was helping me move on and forget, but then she would do something that reminded me, driving the pain even deeper into my heart.

I felt her take my hands and I glanced down and met her eyes. The thoughts were pushed from my mind and all I could think about was the here and the now, with Aphy.

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**REVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEW...I actually can't read that now haha.**

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	6. Chapter 5: Kippers, the Telletubies

**Wowza..so i haven't uploaded for ages**,** so I apologise profusely to anyone who's been waiting, but I'm sure you all know the roller coaster life is and sometimes there just isn't any time. So .......you get the message.**

**Thankyou to i'm random girl for her lovely review...more people should be like her.**

**I'll try to update more, but there'll be more incentive if people write me lovely reviews.**

**Love Libi x**

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Chapter Five: Kippers, the Telletubbies, and Mary Poppins

APOV

We didn't really spend much time dancing, the raging hormones got out of control and we ended up on the bed through no desire of our own. Okay, fine, I had been thinking quite a bit about the bed, especially with us lying on it, so I really wasn't complaining when I found myself horizontal on the green duvet with Edward hovering above me.

The hovering bit was slightly worrying, maybe I was delirious. He shifted his weight. Ah, he was supporting himself with his arms, that couldn't be comfortable. I put my hands behind his neck and pulled his face down to mine so that I could kiss him. He tasted delicious, it made me want more. I moved my hands from his neck to his back and applied some pressure. He looked at me, his crooked smile playing across his lips.

"Is something the matter baby?" he asked.

"I'm just worried about you honey, you don't look that comfortable" I replied, playing along.

"Oh, if that's it then I'll…" He began to move away.

"I was thinking more like this" I used all my strength and pulled him down on top of me.

Holy fuck! He was so hard!

As if reading my mind he moved his hips slightly, sending a wave of pleasure through me.

"Mmm" I moaned and arched my back, driving my hips into his.

"Fuck!" he swore. Man, I loved it when he did that.

I rolled us over so that I was on top. I sat up; straddling his hips and began to move slowly back and forth.

In the background the CD changed track to something more upbeat and I moved in time with the music. His groaning became louder and louder.

I halted my rhythm.

"Don't stop" he begged. My whole body was screaming in agreement with him, but no, I was in control, seriously.

"You have to kiss me first" I said pouting.

He tried to pull my down to him.

"No, no" I said leaning away from him "you have to come to me"

He scowled at me. "What if I don't want to?" He locked his eyes with mine. I could see the desire burning in them, threatening to shred the remaining ties of my self control.

Deep breath Aphy, deep breath.

I put on my best come hither face, tilting my head slightly to the right and biting gently on my lower lip.

"Oh I think you do"

It didn't take long for the remainder of his self control to make its way, rather hastily, with a little skip and a jump, out of the window.

He sat up; the movement made his erection shift and rub against my centre sending another wave of excruciating pleasure through me. I squeezed my eyes shut, cutting off the outside world. I felt his warm lips brush against mine, parting them as his tongue slipped inside my mouth. I let out a sigh and opened my eyes taking in and memorising the contours of his beautiful face. One of his hands moved to the back of my neck and tangled in my hair. It was like the kiss scene out of the films with music all around us, the outside world left far, far behind.

The door opened.

"Edward, we're…" The voice pulled us back into reality and we broke apart.

I glanced around; Emmett and Alice were standing in the open doorway staring at us. Emmett's mouth was opening and closing as if he was trying to say something, but no sound was coming out. Alice just looked spiky and rather scary, I swear to God her hair was standing on end.

"Aphy?" she squeaked.

I jumped off Edward's lap.

"Alice, Emmett it's great to see you guys again!" I replied.

"What the hell is going on here?" Alice asked, her voice back to a normal pitch and her eyes flashing dangerously between me and her brother.

I followed her gaze to Edward, the most beautiful creature on God's good earth…who was sitting there like someone had slapped him round the face with a wet kipper.

Ok, what is with that phrase? A kipper; seriously, who would bother to find a bloody kipper in order to slap someone with it? What's more, who actually says that? It's only old people! Oh my God, I'm turning into a granny!

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, Alice was still waiting for an answer and it looked like it was going to have to come from me, because dear heart was otherwise engaged.

"We're together now" I said, cutting to the chase.

"Together?" she repeated, her left eyebrow arching up, adding yet another spike to her prickly person.

"Yep"

The eyebrow didn't shift.

"Since when?" she probed.

"This morning"

I was getting slightly worried that she would loose that eyebrow if it went any higher.

"Edward?" she said, and we both turned to look at him.

Still with the bloody fish face!

"Jesus, Cullen!" I cried "Shut your mouth! Are you trying to catch a fucking fly?"

It had spectacular results: Edward's mouth snapped shut, Alice lost the eyebrow once and for all, and Emmett burst out with the most impressive, deep-bellied laugh I'd ever heard.

EPOV

As we followed Emmett and Alice down the stairs I took hold of Aphy's hand; interlacing my fingers with hers.

She was such an amazing young women, she'd taken control of the situation, deflecting Alice's death stare like it was tickling breeze, rather than the hurricane it is. As for me, well I'd just sat their like a gormless idiot. Normally I could get on top of the situation, but that time…the situation had left me far behind.

"Sorry" I mumbled in her ear.

"I'll forgive you, but you may need to make it up to me."

"How?"

"Oh, I'll think of something!" She smirked at me.

Esme and Carlisle were in the kitchen. The kettle was on and Esme was clambering on a chair to get the cake box down, while Carlisle sat at the table reading the newspaper.

They looked up as the four of us entered.

"Oh, Aphy" Esme said, trying to keep the surprise out of her voice.

"Hey Esme, Carlisle" Aphy replied.

"We weren't expecting to find you here dear" Esme said as she stepped off the chair and placed the plastic box on the counter.

This was my cue; I had better embrace it this time.

"Aphy's my girlfriend now"

That wasn't too hard.

"Oh" Esme reiterated, and then her face broke into a smile. "Welcome to the family Aphy"

A few hours later the four of us were sitting in the living room. By then we'd made our way verbally through life, the universe, and everything and the conversation had well and truly worn itself out. Although the words were no longer flowing at least we'd found an all-in-one solution to global warming, overpopulation, and the recession with Aphy's revelation that we should just "shoot all the bloody snobs". I wondered what Copenhagen would've made of that.

Aphy heaved herself off the sofa.

"Everything's gone to sleep" she grumbled. "Right I'm off to the dear old 'lavatory' before my bladder explodes."

"Lavatory?" Alice raised her eyebrow (this was becoming quite a common look for her). "Who says lavatory?"

"Gran?"

"Dead people don't count Emmett" Alice chastised, shaking her head.

"Old people in general?"

"You shouldn't generalise, it leads to stereotypes, and then prejudice, and then genocides" Alice death-glared him.

"Jesus, Alice" Emmett laughed nervously "No need to be so melodramatic, I didn't mean all old people…Seriously stop with the laser beams."

She giggled and looked away.

"Seriously, Eddykins" she elbowed me in the side.

I glowered at her, but she continued unperturbed, "Your girlfriend is weird"

Emmett erupted with laughter "You can't talk, Ali, honestly"

"Yes I can" she retorted "Look, I'm doing it now"

"Get you miss clever-clogs" I muttered.

She rolled her eyes.

"C'mon, let's watch TV" she suggested. "There's probably a film on somewhere"

She reached for the remote and began flipping through the channels.

Aphy wandered back into the room.

"Ooo TV!" she gasped "I haven't watched TV, since, like, two years ago!"

We all stared at her.

"What the fuck, Aphy?" Emmett voiced our surprise perfectly; he really does have a way with words.

"I don't watch television, we don't have one" she sank down next to me on the sofa.

"You don't have a TV?" Alice squeaked.

"You don't watch television?" I seconded.

"There's more to life that TV"

"Like what?" Emmett asked.

She paused. "Pills, shagging" she replied with a smile.

Did she just say what I thought she did?

"Pills?" I asked weakly.

"Don't get in a fluster dearie" she said patting my arm "I don't do pills"

"You don't" I sighed with relief. "Then why did you say it?"

"It's a reference! God, I thought you people watched TV! It's from _Skins_; please tell me you've heard of _Skins_"

"We've heard of it, we've just never watched it"

"You've never watched it?"

"Nope"

"Oh my days, you have to watch it! Shanice has the box set; I'll get her to lend it to you"

"And my life will be complete" Alice muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Do I detect sarcasm Miss Cullen?"

"Of course not Miss Harte"

My sister smiled sweetly, putting on the innocent act big time.

APOV

"Ok Ali" said Emmett "Once you two have stopped fucking about with all that clever shit can we get down to businesses and watch a film"

"Clever shit?" asked Alice

"Yeah, like sarcasm and la di dah shit"

_What the fuck was he on? _He seriously did sound like some kind of fucked up hippy.

"What the fuck is "la di dah shit"?" I said "You sound like a Telletubby with Tourette's!"

_Ok, what the fuck was I on?_ I really needed to start thinking before I opened my mouth, because it seemed to have a life of its own.

"So what is on?"

"Film four…Mary Poppins"

"Marry Poppins!" I exclaimed "Genius! I ain't seen that for donkey's years!


End file.
